Wins and Losses
by PaintedShadow
Summary: When a 10 year old girl, suddenly under Grissom's care pushes him into taking the leap. GSR to come.
1. Chapter 1

**Wins and Loses**

Disclaimer: I do not own them. Netiher do I own Logan Airport...

**Chapter One- Leaving Memories**

Gil Grissom was on his flight to Massachusetts. He had accepted to teach a seminar at Williams College in Western Massachusetts. But what no one back at the lab knew that he'd be coming home with a ten year old girl.

This all started when he got a call from his best friend's lawyer. Mitch LeBlanc had been a great friend to him over the years. They had actually gone to high school together but since Grissom was a "Ghost" throughout high school, he never knew Mitch was there. When he was finally in college at UCLA, Mitch has ended up his roommate. They got along great, had similar interests. Over the four years they had become best friends. But towards the end of senior year, they started to drift apart because Mitch had a girlfriend who needed all of his attention, and Grissom was working at the LA Coroner's office.

They kept contact over the years, the girl Mitch met towards the end of senior year turned out that she was just using him. Mitch had built a wall, much like Grissom had, to keep out everybody, that is except their best friends, each other.

Over the years they'd always try to find a weekend or two or three to spend together and go traveling. Whether it is to an entomology conference or a forensic seminar. They did this until Mitch had accepted an Assistant Director position of the Boston Police Department: Crime Lab.

Everything had changed one day when Mitch left a message on Grissom's work phone, "Hey Gil, it's Mitch, if you couldn't tell. Guess what!!! I'm getting married! Her name is Bethany Marx. Call me back, you have to come out here and meet her, and I need to ask you something rather important."

Grissom had gone to the wedding, and was honored to stand next to Mitch while he got married to the love of his life.

Pulling himself out of his memory, Grissom was starring out the plane window, hoping the flight would be over soon.

Grissom rested his head against his seat, soon he fell into a deep sleep.

"_Gil!" Mitch was waving his hand high in the air trying to get Gil's attention._

"_Hey Mitch! Thank you for convincing me to visit. I needed a break from work." Gil admitted._

"_So how has work been?" I hear that you taught a seminar out in San Francisco."_

"_Well at work, Catherine has been nagging me to tell her what the hell happened to me out in San Francisco. She claims that I came back happier than I left."_

"_So what happened in San Francisco?" Mitch pushed the question._

_Grissom gave him an evil stare, "Well the seminar went great! There was this one woman, Sara, who captured my attention immediately; she is incredibly smart, beautiful but so young and full of life!" Grissom said, picturing her in his mind._

"_She can't be that young." Mitch tried to reassure his friend who had obviously fallen in love._

"_She's 15 years younger than me, Mitch, 15 years!"_

"_Ok, your point?" Mitch asked moving closer to his wide and daughter. "Beth is 10 years younger than me."_

_Grissom didn't bother to argue since he knew Mitch had a point._

"_Uncle Gil!" Mitch's daughter Laura squealed as she ran over to him, her brown curls floating behind her._

_Grissom kneeled down on the floor getting ready to wrap the 4 year old in a great big bear hug._

"_Laura, you know not to run away from your mother or me when we are in a crowded area." Mitch said strictly as Gil lifted Laura up._

"_Sorry Daddy." Laura mumbled._

"_Hi Gil," Beth said as she stood from her seat._

"_Hello Beth, how've you been?"_

"_Really good, you?"_

"_OK."_

"_Why only ok?"_

"_Let's see, he's fallen in love with one of his students?" Mitch said trying to get Gil to confess._

"_It's a long story, but the summarized version: I taught a class in San Francisco for a few weeks and met this woman, but she lives there and I live in Vegas, and she is a student of mine, and on top of that I have Catherine hounding me for juicy info on why I am so happy. Also my workload of cases."_

"_Have you ever thought of going into teaching permanently? Beth inquired raising an eyebrow._

"_No, it doesn't have the same thrill."_

_They finally made it out of Logan Airport and onto Route 2 West._

"_Gil, did you know that we've moved out of the city?"_

"_No, I didn't, someone must have forgotten to tell me!" Gil said giving Mitch the death stare in the rearview mirror._

"_Guilty." Mitch said when he glanced back at Gil._

"_Well we now live in Lunenburg, it's about 45 minutes outside of the city. We now have three bedrooms, two and a half baths and a huge yard." Beth filled him in._

"_I have my own room!" Laura said excitedly._

"_I hope you would have your own room." Gil chuckled._

_Laura fell asleep in the car and the adults kept chatting over different things. Beth wanted to her more about the woman he met at Berkeley. So he elaborated further. After he finished filling in the blanks the remainder of the car ride was silent._

ding ding ding

"Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened for our decent into Boston." The captain voice came over the PA system.

Gil made sure his table tray and his belt was fastened as the captain said.

Once landed, Grissom retrieved his suitcase from baggage claim and then worked his way to a rental car center.

"Hi, how can I help you, sir?"

"I reserved a car under Grissom."

"Yes, sir, if you will just sign here," flipping the page, "and here," flipping another page, "and here." Once Grissom signed the last sheet, she continued, "someone will bring the car around to this entrance," she said pointing to the sliding double doors.

"Thank you."

Five minutes later a man walks through the doors, "Mr. Grissom?"

"Yes."

"Here is your vehicle."

"Thank you." Gil replied as the guy lead him to the vehicle.

Grissom got himself situated in the vehicle and drove off, heading towards Route 2 West, towards Lunenburg.


	2. Chapter 2

Wins and Loses

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never will.

Chapter 2-Laura

While driving on Route 2, Grissom's mind kept playing that shocking moment.

_ring ring_

"_Grissom"_

"_Is this Dr. Gil Grissom?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I'm Daniel Welch. I'm Mitch LeBlanc's lawyer, I'm sorry to inform you but Mitch LeBlanc and his wife Beth were killed last night in a fatal car accident. You were listed as next of kin. And I am the holder of their will, and you are listed to take guardianship of their 10 year old daughter, Laura."_

_Grissom could have dropped the phone at that moment._

"_Dr. Grissom, are you still there?"_

"_Yes, yes sorry I am here. I'm just having trouble processing what you've just told me."_

"_I know that it's hard to accept, but this is time sensitive."_

"_Yes, that is understandable." Grissom paused, "Well, I'm pretty sure that you are aware that I live in Las Vegas. I will be coming to Williamstown Massachusetts in a few days to teach at Williams College for a month. Could I pick her up on the way?"_

"_Yes, but there will be some papers for you to sign."_

"_Yes, of course. Who is she going to be staying with until I arrive there?"_

"_Depends on when you are arriving."_

"_My plane arrives at Logan Airport at 6 pm on Thursday."_

"_Oh ok, well David Curl a colleague of Mitch's said that he will stay at the house with her until you arrive." Daniel concluded._

"_Ok, what about the house?"_

"_We'll discuss that when you arrive."_

"_Ok, that will probably be easier."_

"_They will be at the house, so when you are about thirty minutes away call them so David can contact me."_

Grissom couldn't get that to stop playing in his mind as he drove towards Lunenburg.

"I have to get my mind off it. I have to be strong for Laura." Grissom said to the empty car.

Pulling out his cell phone, Grissom dialed the number for the house.

"LeBlanc Residence." The 10 year old answered.

"Hi Laura."

"Uncle Gil!" she let out a sob, "When are you arriving?"

"I'll be there at the house in thirty minutes or so, there is some mild traffic."

"Okay, I'll tell David so he can call Daniel."

"Ok."

"I'll see you when you arrive, you know to just come in, right?"

"Yes I do kiddo."

"Bye, Uncle Gil."

"Bye, Laura."

Hearing the click of the phone Grissom snaps his shut.

--

"Uncle Gil!" Laura said as she rushed up to his driver's side door.

"Hey, come here," Gil opened his arms to embrace the little one.

"I miss them." Laura cried into his chest.

"I know, it's going to be hard."

"When are we leaving? I can't spend more time here." Laura cried harder.

"Honey, look at me. I'm teaching a class at Williams College in Western Mass for a month, ok. After I am done that we will be going back to Vegas ok?"

"As long as we aren't in this town." She said as she spread her arms out.

"I know." Gil said, looking down at the ground. "Let's go inside."

"Gil, I presume?" reaching his hand out.

"Yes, you must be David," shaking the outstretched hand.

"Yes, I am."

"David, Gil can we go out to eat at Dario's before we leave?"

"Yes, if it is ok with Daniel."

"Yeah, it's okay with me. We can discuss everything there." Daniel said as he opened the door.

"Dr. Grissom, nice to meet you."

"Same, but call me Gil."

"Is it okay if we discuss this over food?"

"I haven't eaten since I left Las Vegas so I'm all for it."

"Okay, we'll take my car if that's alright?"

"Sure."

"I'm going to go get changed." Laura said then bolted up the stairs.

"She's been so anxious to leave here." David said.

"Not surprised. Every human responds to tragedy in a different way," Grissom paused, "how has she been in school?"

"She hasn't gone to school in the past few days because everyone knows about what happened. She tried facing them one day bit it was too much, I ended up picking her up at school and she was in complete tears." David filled in.

"Okay, I'm ready," Laura said as she jumped down the last two stairs.

--

They arrived at the small pizzeria and were seated immediately. After placing their orders Daniel started to discuss what was going to happen.

"In their will, you are the appointed guardian of Laura, and if you were to refuse then she will be placed into the foster system."

"Well, I've already stated that I will take car of her."

"Yes, I know, this is just something that I have to read." Daniel replied.

"Can you read through these, and sign where appropriate. There is some information that you will need to fill out."

Grissom read through as much of the paperwork that he could before the food came.

"Uncle Gil, how many slices do you want?" Laura asked, grabbing his plate, "I'll take two," retrieving the plate from her, "Thank you."

They ate with little conversation. David kept asking Gil about work and asking advice on cases. Once they were finished Daniel and David split the bill, not letting Grissom have a choice to object.

Grissom finished reading through the papers, filling in every needed bit of information.

"Daniel, is there anything else that needs to be discussed?" Grissom asked as he handed over the papers.

"Yes, you asked about the house earlier. If you choose not to live here which I know you aren't then it will be sold was certain furnishings. The money that is made from the sale will go into a savings account under Laura's name. There is no way she can access it until her freshman year of college. The money in there is to be used for college and college only. If there is money left over after college then she'll have to decide what she wants to do with it."

"Ok," Grissom wasn't entirely surprised that Mitch did that.

"How long are you teaching at Williams for?"

"A month and then I have a flight back to Las Vegas. I already arranged so that Laura has a seat next to me."

"Ok, I'm going to be checking up once a month for the first six months to see how everything is going. After those six months, if you have any questions, you have my number." Daniel paused, "have you decided on a school that she'll be attending?"

"Not yet, I was going to talk to her about what she wanted to do. I have a friend who is a home school teacher and he'll be teaching her while I am teaching at Williams. Depending on where she wants to go to school in Vegas, whether public or private, it's up to her."

"Ok, well that's everything Gil, I hope you have a safe flight back and I'll call you within the next two months. If you need anything just call." Daniel stood up placing the signed papers in his briefcase, "oh here are her medical records, school transfer papers and her saving account information."

"Thank you." They shook hands and Daniel left.

"Laura's already asleep. I'm going to go home. Will you be alright here?" David asked.

"Yes, we're leaving tomorrow night for Williams."

"Have a good time teaching Gil. It was nice to meet you."

"Same." And with that David walked out of the house leaving Grissom alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Do not own them.

Chapter 3 – Sara

It was too early for Grissom to retire to sleep and he didn't want to watch TV on the off chance that it will wake Laura. Grissom roamed through the maze of the house. He saw the home computer and decided to go online for a little while.

Going through his inbox deleting messages that aren't important, he come across one that he is not sure whether to read or not. Hesitating for a moment longer, he double clicks on the e-mail.

_From: SSCSI3_

_To: GGBUGMAN_

_Gil,_

_I can't believe that you actually left. Telling me a day before you leave is obviously going to upset me. Hank misses you, and I do too. I could see that you were on the edge of burnout, with all that has been going on with the miniature killer, I don't blame you for leaving, but couldn't you have discussed it with me? I've noticed that you've been really distant and distracted over the past few weeks. I just hope that you are okay and taking care of yourself. Come back home._

_Always Yours, _

_Sara_

"You didn't tell her that you were leaving?" Laura said from behind Grissom causing him to jump.

"Well, yeah, I didn't think it would be a problem that I left as long as I told her, which I did, I guess I was wrong." Gil admitted to the ten year old.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Laura asked holding the last word in length.

"Yes, she is, want to see a picture?" When Laura nodded her head, Grissom pulled up an e-mail of pictures of when they spent the day at Lake Mead. "That's Sara." Grissom said pointing to the screen, with a smile on his face.

"She's pretty!" Laura smiled, "Will I get to meet her?"

"Of course you will, but it won't be until we return to Vegas."

"Oh I figured that."

"What are you doing up anyways?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Ok, how about we go watch part of a movie, I'll stop it half way through it so that you get some sleep and then while I'm cooking us breakfast in the morning tomorrow, you can watch the rest. How does that sound?"

"Did my Daddy tell you to do that?" Laura cast her eyes to the ground, "Because he use to do that."

"Laura, hun, you know that your dad and I were really good friends. Have you ever heard the saying 'great minds think alike'?"

Laura slowly nodded, then moved from where she was standing in the living room to go sit on the sectional in front of the forty-two inch screen television. Laura had already set up a movue by the time Grissom entered the room.

She fell asleep within the first thirty minutes of the movie, and Grissom turned it off, and gently picked up Laura off the couch and brought her into her room.

---

Grissom woke up to Laura crying. Making his way upstairs, Laura was curled up on her bed with the blankets cocooned around her.

"Hey, Laura, look at me." Grissom said in a soothing tone, sitting on the edge of her bed. "What's wrong?"

"I…I..keep…forgetting…that…they…aren't…here…anymore." And with that last word she began to sob harder and harder. Grissom gathered her into his arms and moved further onto her bed. "Everything is going to get better, eventually. You know they love you right?"

"Mhm" Laura nodded her head.

"Let's go make some breakfast."

After a rather long morning, Grissom told Laura to pack what she wanted to bring with her to Williams and they package the rest and ship it to Vegas. While she was doing that Grissom went back online and started typing a reply to Sara.


	4. Chapter 4

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 4- Vegas

Sara had just gotten off shift. She really didn't want to go any overtime because something was off at the lab with the replacement for Grissom, and she didn't want to contribute to the madness.

Heading home after a long night, Sara stepped into her apartment and headed straight for her computer. She had sent Grissom an e-mail about a week ago and he hadn't responded. _Why am I acting like a teenager waiting for a call from her crush?_ Sara thought to herself.

From: GGBUGMAN

To: SSCSI3

My dearest Sara,

I'm sorry that I didn't discuss this with you about my leaving. I didn't mean to upset you by that. I need time. Not away from you but away from our work. I miss you terribly. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, things have just been a little hectic around here. As much as I love it here, I miss our home.

Gil

Sara's eyes were misty. She didn't understand how she could mad at him when she loved him so much. She knew it wasn't completely his fault, he just didn't realize that since they are in a relationship they have to discuss certain things.

Sara knew that she should be mad at him even though he does realize what he did. Instead of hitting the 'reply' button, she 'x' out of the screen.

After taking a much needed shower, she fell asleep on the couch with a tear-stained face…again.


	5. Chapter 5

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 5 – Teaching, Packing and a call.

Gil and Laura have been at Williams for a little over 2 weeks now. Grissom is enjoying his teaching but misses the lab more and more as the days pass. He's been taking Laura around town and into Boston to several different restaurants on weekends. Laura tells him how Keenan is doing with teaching her, and Grissom would tell her about the people at the lab.

One night when Laura was getting ready for bed, she came out of the bathroom and stood there, "What about Sara?"

Grissom looked up from the papers he was grading and replied, "What about Sara?"

"You haven't told me a single thing about her, you showed me that picture, but I don't know anything else about her. She is your girlfriend, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. What would you like to know?"

Laura crawled up onto his bed, sitting Indian style, "what is she like? Is she smart, nice, good with kids, fun to be around, going to like me, what does she have interest in? things like that." Laura spoke as though she was already a teenager.

"She is very smart, and beautiful, extremely nice. She loves to work and is very passionate about it. She loves Hank our dog. Our co-workers who I have been telling you about aren't just our co-workers, they are our family, even though they don't know Sara and I are dating. She has a great smile, and a little gap between her two front teeth." As Grissom said this he couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"How long have you loved her?" Laura asked out of nowhere.

"How do you know I love her?"

"The way you talk about her, she is special to you. You love her, also you can't stop smiling." Laura smiled back at him.

"Are you sure you are ten years old?" Grissom chuckled.

"Yup," Laura's smile grew, "so do you love her?"

"Ever since I met her." Grissom smiled as he said this.

Laura took that for an answer and didn't bring it up again. But Grissom would share things with her about Sara.

Grissom had sent Sara a package with a cocoon in it. Laura questioned on why he hadn't sent the letter that he wrote with the package. He didn't know how to answer that, but he said, "Laura, you've known me your whole life, how many girlfriends have I had? Your dad was my best friend and my only friend outside of my work. Does that explain it?"

"Not really, that just proves you are antisocial." Laura said with a smile, "and that you need to get out more…a lot more!"

Grissom chuckled.

--

They had 3 more days before their flight. Since Grissom didn't have to teach today, he drove out to Lunenburg with Laura.

When they arrived at the house Grissom called Daniel to get the list of furniture that wasn't being sold with the house.

"Come on Laura, it won't take that long." Grissom said as he unlocked the front door.

Laura slowly climbed out of the passenger seat and walked slower than a snail up to the cobblestone walkway.

"You can pack your clothes in these boxes," Grissom waited for acknowledgement, then realizing that he wasn't going to get any, "You can pack the things from your room, okay? I'll do the rest of the house." Laura nodded slowly as she approached the house.

Grissom saw the list that Daniel told him was on the counter. Reading through it, there was mostly family value and memory value to the items. Going through the house to gather all the fragile things and placing them on the round wooden kitchen table.

"Okay, I'm done." Laura said as she approached the kitchen.

Grissom just stared at her, "You can't be, it's only been fifteen minutes."

"Go see if you don't believe me. I'll start wrapping the frames in bubble wrap."

As Grissom walked into her room, he realized that all her trophies were off the shelves and the clothes tossed haphazardly into the boxes. On top of the clothes were some toiletries that she left. "Wow."

"See I told you I was done." Laura said with a smug look.

"Did you wrap your trophies with clothes?"

"Yup, that way it saves some bubble wrap. Now I get the left over, right?" Laura asked with a mischievous expression.

After they had finished wrapping everything in bubble wrap and closing the boxes then arrived at the center of town to send off the packages to Las Vegas.

Driving back to the school after eating dinner at a local restaurant, Laura fell asleep. Grissom was extremely surprised at how fast they had gotten things pack when Laura was talking about her parents instead of sulking around.

Grissom was standing in the classroom he had been teaching in for the past month, not believing that the month was over. But he felt refreshed and couldn't wait to return to Vegas.

"Ready to go Gil?" Laura said grabbing his hand.

"Yeah, let's go, our flight from Boston is in five hours, and it's going to be a three hour drive, okay?"

Laura nodded and they started walking out of the school to Grissom's rental car.

Laura took advantage of the long car ride to sleep in the back seat. There wasn't much traffic on the highway so Grissom arrived at the airport about half an hour before planed.

"Laura, you have to wake up, we're at the airport."

"Hmmmm, I don't wanna." Laura said rubbing her eyes.

"You have to, you can sleep again on the plane."

"No, this is my first plane ride, I'm going to be awake for it!" Laura mumbled strictly.

"Ok, well you have to get up so that I can return the rental."

"Okay."

After getting the suitcases out of the trunk, Grissom returned the rental car, and went to go find the security checkpoint.

After waiting for an hour to get through security, they were waiting to board the plane. Grissom decided to use the bathroom before boarding. Laura waited in her seat, and heard something vibrating.

Picking up Grissom's phone, "Hello?"

"Grissom?"

"No, this is Laura, he'll be back in a few minutes. Is this Sara?"

"Yes."

"Nice to talk to you, I can't wait to meet you!" Laura said excitedly. Laura spotted Grissom coming out of the bathroom and walking over to where she was sitting, "Here, it's Sara. She called and I didn't want it to go to voicemail." Laura said handing the phone to Grissom.

"Sara?"

"Griss, what the hell is going on?!?" Sara raised her voice. Laura over heard what Sara said.

"She doesn't like me does she. I just wanted to talk to her before you came back." Laura said in tears.

"Sara, can you hold on?" Grissom didn't wait for an answer, he lowered himself to Laura's level, "Hun, she doesn't know about you, she was just shocked, she didn't understand who you were."

"Oh." Laura looked up, "you didn't tell your girlfriend that I was coming to live with you?"

Grissom let his head drop, "No, I didn't. Another mistake."

Picking up the phone again, "Sara?" Not hearing anything he turns off his phone angrily and shoves it into his pocket.


	6. Chapter 6

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 6- Meeting the Las Vegas Crew

Grissom and Laura had walked off the airplane about 2 hours ago, and where heading to the lab after dropping their belongings off at Grissom's town house.

Parking his car in the parking lot of the lab, he turned to Laura who looked extremely anxious.

"You ready?"

"Yeah. You kidding, dad would never bring me to his work."

"Oh, well let's go." Grissom said as he opened the door. 

Walking into the lab, Judy was the first to greet him, "Welcome back, Dr. Grissom."

"Hi Judy, it's nice to be back." Grissom responded feelings a warm sensation on his hand. Looking down, Laura had grabbed hold of his hand, and she was shyly walking behind him. Grissom enters his office to be welcomed by the massive amounts of mail piled up on his desk.

Laura stayed in the break room while Grissom was out at a crime scene. Flipping through one of Grissom's entomology text books, she failed to notice the two guys who walked in.

"Helloo?"

Laura glanced up at the two guys and said, "Hi" then turned back to reading.

Nick and Greg sat down at the table on the opposite side if her, "Who are you here visiting?" Nick asked.

"My Uncle," Laura responded without looking up this time.

"And who might that be?" Greg piped in.

"Grissom." Sara said from the door as she made her way to the coffee maker.

Laura glanced from Sara to the guys sitting in front of her. Noting their shocked expressions, and agape mouths, Laura questions, "He didn't tell any of you about me coming here to live with him?" Laura stole a glance at Sara who grimaced. 

Sara was surprised that she could communicate with Laura through body language and eye contact.

"Ummm..why are you here?"

"Well Greggo, if you must know, my parents died in a fatal car accident one month, two weeks and four days ago, I can give you hours and minutes to if wanted. Uncle Gil is not my legal guardian." Simultaneously Laura slammed the book shut and coffee came spewing out of Sara's nose. Laura tried to suppress a laugh, "I'm going to go into his office."

"Grissom, taking care of a pre-teen--oh this is going to be soenjoyable!" Nick stated.

"How did she know my name?"

Sara rushed to the bathroom to clean off her face and the spots on her shirt. Walking out of the bathroom, Sara walked into Catherine.

"Oh, you better have taken a shower since your dumpster diving."

"Cath, I wouldn't be in these clothes if I haven't."

"Ya true. Hey I have a questiong, have you seen Grissom?"

"No, I knew he was do back today, but well I was out on that dumpster dive, so just call his cell." Sara suggested.

"I don't have my cell on me, I think I left it in my car."

Sara fished through her pockets to retrive her phone, "here use mine. It's ringing."

"Sara, are you willing to listen now?"

"Uh, Grissom, this is Cath."

"Oh Catherine, I thought Sara called me."

"I'm using her phone, I left mine in my car. I was wondering where you are. Your office lights are on but you aren't there."

Grissom didn't remember leaving the lights on, maybe Laura turned them on. "I'm hiding from the massive amount of mail that I had received." 

"Oh...where are you hiding?" Sara's eyebrows shot up at this question.

"I'm at a scene with Warrick."

"Oh, ok, I'll let you go, but—"

"Hey, Sara, can you help me? I can't reach a book."

"Uh, yeah, sure, come on."

They left Catherine completely dumbfounded. Laura led Sara to Grissom's office and pointed to the book that she wanted. "That one!"

"Ok." Sara reached up and pulled down the forensic textbook, handing it over to Laura. 

She was about to say something—but it just wouldn't come out.

"What do you want to know Sara?" Laura peered over the book.

"Uh, I..I was just wondering how you knew Greg's name."

"Uncle Gil told me. He told me things about everyone on the team."

"Really?" Sara seemed surprised.

"Yeah, but I had to bring you up so that he would tell me more about you." She paused as Sara went over to close the door and sit down, "he's happy. You make him happy Sara." Laura mumbled.

"You think so?" Sara said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know so, the way he talks about you and looks at you, you guys have something."

"You know, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do know and he also told me that the team doesn't know. Is it alright that I know?"

Before Sara could answer the door opened, and Catherine appeared slowly. "Am I interrupting?"

"Yes but I'm assuming you want to know who I am?"

"Oh, no, I know who you are, Laura. I met your dad a few times when he was out here. You were only about one then."

"Cath, did you know that—"

Catherine held up a hand to silence Sara, "No, Sara, he didn't tell me either." She slowly turned and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Sara looked down to see a girl in tears, "So now I know who he was having an affair with."

"Laura, you don't—"

"Yes, I do!" Laura screamed, bursting into more tears.

"Hey hey hey it's okay," Sara paused to rub her back, "it'll be okay, breathe deep."

More body racking sobs passed through Laura's slight figure.

"Shhh…" Sara said soothingly stroking Laura's back as she tightened the grip around Sara's waist.

Grissom opened the door to his office and found Laura asleep on Sara's lap as Sara flipped through a case file.

"Hey." He whisper, shutting the door silently, "Can you see?"

"Yeah, I don't need much light, I just didn't want people staring at her. She broke down Gil."

"Not really surprised, I'm guessing that Catherine stopped in, and recognized her?" Grissom said as he sat down on a chair near the couch that Sara and Laura were occupying.

"What the hell is going on Griss?" Sara said slowly.

"Can I explain later?"

"Griss, I'm ready to listen," Sara stated, making him look up at her. Noticing the concern etched across her face.

"Come to our place for breakfast." Grissom said, looking deep into her brown eyes.

"Our place?" Sara asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, our place." Grissom said without hesitation. 

"Ok." 

Grissom smiled as he remembered what Laura had said one night while they were at Williams, "Don't hesitate when you are asking her to move him, if she questions it, don't hesitate to day it again. It'll look like you don't truly want her to."

"What are you thinking?" Sara said as she saw his eyes go distant.

Grissom stood up and moved closer to Sara. She had her eyes locked with his. He gently grabbed her chin and raised it. He leaned in and captured her lips with his. Not feeling her pull away he deepened the kiss. When air was much needed he framed her face with her hands. Sara looked at him, even with the smirk gracing her face. Grissom knew that he was going to get yelled at eventually.

Sara couldn't contemplate what to do. Instead of thinking, she reacted grabbing him by his shirt collar, pulling him into another breathtaking kiss. 

Sara was reminded that Laura 's head was resting on her lap , when she didn't feel the warmth anymore.

"Do you ever breathe!" Laura chuckled. Laura watched their faces turn bright red. "I think that is my cue to go, I'll be in the break room."

The moment she shut the door Sara and Grissom were in a tight embrace. 

"I missed you Griss."

"I've missed you more, Laura was so anxious to meet you."

"Really?" Sara mumbled into his chest.

"Yeah, I was telling her about the team and she specifically asked what you were like." Grissom smiled. "I'm really surprised that you didn't yell at me."

"Griss, com'on, she lost her parents, I know how that feels, I lost my family. Welcoming her here to warmth and love is the only thing that we can do to try and help her heal that pain," Sara said, playing with the button on his shirt.

"Sara, you okay?" After a moment of silence Sara still hadn't answered, "Sara honey, look at me."

Sara slowly lifted her head so he could see the tears streaming down her face. "Hey hey, no crying." Grissom said. "Tell me what's wrong, hun."

"That's Bethany's daughter." Sara said allowing more tears to stream down her face.


	7. Chapter 7

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: don't own them

Chapter 7- Mitch's setup

Grissom was in a complete state of shock. He didn't know what to say or do. His mind was racing trying to make a connection when he suddenly realized that she was talking.

"…I had a feeling that you wouldn't understand fully but Beth was five years older than me and since I had a late birthday, I was placed into the high grade since I was smart. In middle school, I saw her all the time—even though we weren't in the same grade. She helped the teachers with my grade. When she was a freshman, her parents were murdered by a partner from a jealous affair. She was put into the system because she couldn't support herself and make it through high school. She wanted to stay in the same school and town." Sara couldn't face Grissom while she was revealing all this, so she looked out the window, "the Jackson's were the only foster home in that town. Bethany arrived at the Jackson's on a weekend. I had been the oldest girl at the foster home, so she was placed as my roommate." By now Sara was crying, but allowed herself to look at Grissom. Gauging his reaction, she pushed on, "The family was so big that it is too hard to keep track who's where, what they are doing and so on. We became best friends—inseparable. She went to Berkeley as an undergrad. Then I went off to Harvard after high school. Suddenly there was a whole country between us and we barely spoke." Sara gazed out the window, thinking of how to go on. "I knew that she was getting married, and I was so happy when she asked me to be her maid of honor." Tears were now streaming down her face in a steady flow. "My roommate Amanda from Harvard died three weeks before the wedding, she didn't have a family who cared about her, so she's be emancipated when she was a teen—Bethany always told me that she understood, but I don't think she ever forgave me." Sara stood up from her place on the couch, pacing the room, "Mitch was extremely nice, when I went to visit them one time, my visit was cut short because Beth neglected to tell me that Mitch's friend from college was coming to stay for a week or two. So I left, our friendship became more strained and I didn't even know she had a kid. Ten years—I never knew." Sara's voice slowly died out. She slowly looked up, "I wonder if the Jackson's know what has happened." Sara looked over to Grissom realizing that he had a smirk on his face, "What?"

"The friend that was coming to visit, was me." Grissom watched as her anger subsided and amusement danced in her eyes. But when her anger started to boil again, she opened her mouth to get ready to snap at Grissom, but he held his hand up. "Mitch was my college roommate—and we went to high school together but I was a ghost then." 

"I should have known."

"Known what?"

"The connection, when you did that seminar in San Francisco, I recognized your name, I heard Mitch mention you several times."

"Really now?"

Sara chuckled, "Yes," she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, "A few weeks after the seminar I went to visit them and he tried to set me up with a friend, that is if I stayed. I had just gotten out of a bad relationship that week, and didn't want a relationship that was going anywhere outside of the friend zone." 

Sara felt pressure on her hand. "It's funny how things work out."

"What do you mean?"

"Mitch knew that work consumed my life, he wanted, me to be happy. That same week I was there, he saw me looking at the pictures on the mantle in their family room, but there was one that captured my attention more, the one where this beautiful women," Sara had sank in her chest, "who had brown hair, adorable chocolate brown eyes and this magnificent smile." Grissom looked over at Sara, making sure that she was listening, "Mitch saw me looking at the picture, I knew who it was immediately, but I acted like I didn't. Mitch saw through my act, he wanted to set _us_ up."

All of a sudden, alarms went off in Sara's mind, "Us as in you and me?" At high slight nod, Sara shook her head, "You were looking at Beth's graduation photo."

"Yup, and I haven't seen you smile that vibrant smile since San Fran." 

Sara cast her eyes down to the ground at his comment. Grissom observed her movement, moving his hand under her chin, briefly touching her cheek, leaning in Grissom captured her lips. They deepened the kiss full of passion. When the need for air was too much, Sara pulled away, "I miss that weekend." She whispered in his ear, causing a surge of passion to go through his body.


	8. Chapter 8

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 8- Surprises!

Grissom was shocked at how well Sara and Laura were getting along. They were all at the park, Grissom was sitting on the blanket while Sara tossed the Frisbee to Laura, who caught it in one hand with an easy jump. They played for a while until Grissom took over for Sara who went back to the townhouse to get some sleep before work that night.

On the walk back, Sara was smiling the whole time. She was happy, but also sad because she didn't want to have to leave the feeling of family to go to work.

Sara arrived at the town house and immediately went to bed, in her clothes of course. She woke up to the instisent ringing of a phone, then realizing it's her cell phone, she slides herself off the bed to where she had left her coat, hanging on the doorknob. Fishing it out of the pocket she sleepily answers, "Sidle."

"Hey Sara, we need you to come in early, swing's already tapped out."

"Hm, ok, be there in about 20."

"Ok." Sara responded to Catherine.

Sara moved slowly around the bedroom, feeling pain from her abdomen. She rubbed her hand against her abdomen as she went about her routine.

Slipping on jeans, and a plain t-shirt, Sara walked downstairs to snag something to eat before leaving.

Grissom came home to find the house empty, which he thought was weird since he knew Sara had come home, and should still be here.

Laura had deposited herself of the couch taking a quick nap before dinner.

Grissom wandered upstairs entering their bedroom, noticing that the bed wasn't made, there as a note on the bed.

_Gil, _

_I got called in by Cath, swing was tapped out. _

_Call my cell if you need me._

_Sara_

Grissom let out a heavy sigh, thanking that she was ok. Pulling out his cell, he dialed her number.

"Sidle."

"Hey."

"Hey, you get my note?"

"Yes, but it worried me for a second, what if I hadn't come up to the bedroom? I wouldn't have found the note."

"Hmm, I didn't think about that, I just needed to get into work. I'm on my way to a double homicide."

"Ok, I'll let you go. Be safe."

"Gil, did you need something?" Sara said seductively.

"To know that you are safe, yes."

"Is that all?"

"No, but that can wait until later."

"Mmm. Can't wait," Sara paused to let out a sigh. "I have to go, I'm at the scene."

"Okay, see you when you get home."

Sara exited her vehicle and walked up to Brass, "Hey."

"Double homicide, Joe and Natasha Hartson, both thirty-seven, their residence, her foster parents have been notified to take care of the girl. Nick is inside, Catherine is on her way."

"Thanks, Jim." Sara replied as she moved to enter into the house.

"Hey Sar- wanna take the woman, she's upstairs in the bedroom." Nick said.

"Sure." Sara said turning to David, "have you taken a look, can I get fibers and such off the body if necessary?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Thanks David." Sara said giving him a smile.

Sara was walking along the hallway upstairs when she noticed the bloodstains on the carpet. _Looks like a kids shoe print_, Sara thought to herself, _Brass did say that they had a daughter, I wonder how old._

Photographing and taking swabs of the bloody shoe prints, Sara continued her way into the bedroom. Momentarily glancing at the vic on the bed, Sara did a double take. She had to take a long moment to observe the vic, and imagine her without the blood around her head wound.

Suddenly Sara rushed out of the room, down the stairs and almost into Catherine as she flew out the door to throw up by the pavement of the driveway.

"Sara?" Catherine questioned, "You okay? You can stand things a hundred times worse than this, what wrong?" Catherine said holding Sara's hair back as she kept throwing up.

After the last time, Catherine brought Sara a bottle of water and sat her down on the curbing, "Sara?" Seeing tears come down her eyes. Catherine unclipped her phone from its holder on her belt.

"Hey Warrick, can you come to the double homicide, let swing cover that, I need to send Sara home."

Sara's head snapped up, and started to argue, "Cath--"

But was silenced by Catherine's hand, "Sara you never show emotion at a crime scene, well at least not a lot, and you defiantly don't throw up, something is off, do you know the vic or something?"

Sara couldn't get herself to answer, she just threw up on the pavement.

Catherine picked up her phone again, "Hey Griss, I have a question, I know that you are busy with Laura, but I need someone to drive Sara home, I can't leave the scene."

"Oh, she's just having some trouble with this scene, she needs some time. Can you also give her the weekend off—or better yet, time off until she tells us how she knows the vic?" snapping her phone shut, Catherine looked back at Sara, "Grissom is on his way."

Sara nodded.

**THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! **

**I'm sorry that this was so short, more will be explained soon! **


	9. Chapter 9

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't Own them.

Chapter 9- The Unexpected

Grissom arrived at the scene with Laura in the back seat of the car. Walking over to Catherine and Sara, "Hey, you okay?" Grissom kneeled down in front of her.

Surprisingly she shook her head, "I want to go home." Sara said slowly looking up at Grissom, seeing concern in his eyes.

"Come on let's go," Grissom said as he helped her up, turning to Catherine, "Can I talk to you?"

She silently nodded and followed close behind.

Once Sara was in the car, Grissom closed the door and turned back to Catherine, "What happened?" he demanded.

"I just got here, Brass told me where everyone was. When I was about to walk in, Sara rushed out and threw up several times. She wouldn't tell me what's going on."

"Ok, she's going to have the rest of the week off through the weekend, I'm going to talk t her before I drive her home. Call me if you need me to come in."

"What about Laura?"

"I can get Sara to watch her, or find a babysitter."

"Oh, ok."

Grissom slid into the driver's seat and turned the ignition to pull away from the crime scene, glancing over at Sara as they proceeded down the street.

"Don't give me that look!"

"Sara," Grissom started but She interrupted, "—Grissom, STOP! I will let you know when I am ready, it could be hours, or days I don't know yet." Sara was about to say more when her phone started ringing.

"Sidle."

Grissom couldn't hear who the caller was but judging by the reaction on Sara's face, it was someone she hasn't talked to in a while.

Getting over her momentary blank, "John! I'm guessing you heard?" Sara asked into the phone. "Oh really, so how long are you going to be here for?" Pausing to let him answer, "Oh, ok." There was a pang of silence before tears started to stream down her cheeks, "Yeah, I know. Her daughter Laura is under the guardianship of Mitch's best friend, Gil." Sara turned in her chair and smiled at Laura. Turning back, "I didn't know John! About either of them having kids. I knew Nat got married because I was at the wedding but I didn't know that she had a kid. And Beth, yeah you know that story." After a moment's pause, "Ok, see you soon, I miss you both!" Sara hung up the phone, realizing that the other two occupants on the car were staring at her.

"That was John Jackson, he was my foster father."

Understanding spread across Grissom's face, "Was the victim one of your foster siblings?"

Sara looked down at her lap and din't shift her gaze when Grissom asked Laura to go into the house.

"Sara?"

"Natasha wasn't there too long." Grissom took hold of her hand, "she was really smart, smarter than me, she had received a scholarship from an Academy in Massachusetts. Ironic isn't it, seems like most of my foster sibling's have retreated to Massachusetts." Sara couldn't suppress a chuckle. "She never came back, but she missed our adventures and our friendship." Grissom raised an eyebrow, "We use to go off in search for new places, we would wander for hours, talking, sharing secrets." Sara's smile grew wider. "We stayed in contact as much as we could, through letters— that I still have somewhere in my apartment. But five years ago we lost contact because she moved so many times that I just couldn't keep track. I didn't even know that she ended up in Nevada."

Grissom squeezed her hand, giving her time. "Let's go in, you look exhausted."

Sara gave him a weak smile before responding, "I honestly feel emotionally exhausted. Thankfully I haven't gotten sick again. I hope that it was just because of the shock of seeing Nat like that. I mean it can't be anything else could it?"

"Calm down, we'll see how you are doing when you get some rest." Grissom suggested.

While Sara had been resting, Grissom was preparing dinner for the three of them, and Laura was looking at schools she possibly wanted to attend.

Laura entered into the kitchen holding a piece of computer paper, "Gil, I like this one." She held it up so he could see.

"Oh, well that's good because that where Lindsey, Catherine's daughter goes to school."

"Okay….maybe not," Laura said as she pivoted of her heel to walked out of the kitchen.

"Not so fast Laura, why don't you like Catherine?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, "She was the reason why my parents were thinking of getting a divorce. They never said anything to you because she was your employee. But every year they'd shack up at the same two conferences, if you get where I'm going. I'm going to go and finish looking for a different school."

"Ok, well dinner is almost ready." Grissom had trouble forming sentences, "I'm going to go and get Sara."

Caressing her arm gently, Grissom didn't want to startle her, so he slowly worked his way up to caress her face. Leaning in he could smell the minty freshness of the toothpaste which brought a smile to his face. Leaning in her gave her a gentle kiss to the lips—she slowly stirred at the contact and before he could pull away, she kissed him back. "That's a good way to wake up." Sara said adding a smile.

"Dinner is almost ready, pasta with sautéed veggies."

A small moan emanating from Sara.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better actually, the sleep helped a lot."

"Wow, for once Sara Sidle did not say 'I'm fine!'" Grissom said, a smiling coming to his face.

"I do not always say that!"

"You say it a lot more than you think you do."

"Well then it is good that you got me to open up." She leaned up and stole a kiss before going into the bathroom.

"Laura's been looking at the school descriptions, and she picked the one that Lindsey goes to but when she found that out she went back to look at others."

"Wait, why?"

"Because of Catherine."

"Ah, do you know exactly why though."

"I know something but I think there could be something more behind it."

"Yeah, there could be something juicy that I can use against Catherine for once!" Sara said with a devious grin appearing on her face when she walked out of the bathroom.

"Come on dinner's going to be burnt if we don't get down there."

The dinner conversation was mostly normal, Laura inquired about how Sara was feeling, and Sara brought up the topic of schools. When Laura briefly said why she chose the one she did, Grissom asked, "the lease on you apartment is up soon isn't it?"

"Yeah why?"

"Move the rest of your stuff in here."

**Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! This chapter didn't really go the way I wanted it to but I'm going with it. I have some new ideas for the story line to keep you guys interested. there will be more GSR on the way...just be patient.**


	10. Chapter 10

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 10 – Explanations

**A/N: Hey sorry guys that I didn't post this weekend, I was suffering from a migraine from Wednesday and wasn't in the mood to write. Well here it is. Oh and just to let you know, I have a schedule down for writing my chapters, the next chapter will be coming this weekend. I'm writing the next chapter for 'Thicker than Blood' this week, and finishing new next fic.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

Grissom was sitting in the living room with Laura, who was watching the television. He was reading a book when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Sara said rushing out of the bathroom. "Hey Cath, sorry I'm running late."

"Hey, it's okay, I know how it goes."

"Gil and Laura are in the living room if you want to join them."

"Sure," Catherine said as she walked into the living room, Sara breaking off to go towards the bathroom.

"Hey Gil."

"Oh hi Catherine." Gil said looking up from his book."You girls going to have fun today?"

"Of course!" Catherine paused and noticed that the volume on the TV was increasing, "Hello Laura."

"Hi witch." Laura responded with a snarl.

"Hey!" Grissom exclaimed, "Laura, turn off the TV!"

"Fine." Laura said as she grabbed the remote. "I'm going to my room."

He knew that they needed to sort this out before it got too out of hand so as she started walking off, Grissom stopped her, "Go sit on the couch, we all need to talk this out."

"What if I don't want to?"

"You don't have a choice Laura, I'm sorry but you're going to be seeing a lot of Catherine and if you can't be nice then we are going to have a big problem."

With a huff Laura sat down on the couch, "Ok, what do you want to talk about to sort this out?"

"I have a question," Catherine paused until she saw Grissom nod, "Why don't you like me?"

"Like you don't know." Laura said with a smug look on her face.

"Is it about the conferences?"

"No, well yes. More than that though, my parents were going to get a divorce because my dad wouldn't stop screwing you at every conference the two of you went to." By now Laura had tears streaming down her face as she screamed the response.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Sara said as she stood in the doorway of the bedroom.

Laura walked up to Sara and wrapped her arms around Sara's midriff. Looking down at the girl, "honey, what's wrong?" The sobs wrecked through Laura's body. Sara picked her up in her arms, gave a glare to Grissom then slammed the bedroom door shut.

"Ok, Catherine, tell me if she is telling the truth."

"Grissom, you can't seriously believe a ten year old child!"

"Why not!? Eddie always thought there was something going on with you and someone else, hell he thought it was me." Grissom raised his voice. "I just can't believe that Mitch would stoop this low, to cheating." his voice just as loud.

"Ok, Ok." Catherine said slightly raising her voice. "So Mitch and I hooked up a few times, I never knew that he was married. I knew that he had a kid only because of the times that he came to visit you. His wife was never with him. Since we are required to go to certain conferences, we make sure that we went to one that was similar, and yeah."

"How could you not even ask if he had a wife?" Grissom said a little bit more calmly. "How does it feel to know that you almost ruined a marriage?"

"Like shit, but that doesn't change the feelings I had for Mitch, and you know it."

"And that's supposed to mean?"

"You have to be kidding me! You always thought of reason and excuses not to be with Sara. You had feelings but weren't acting on them. I had feelings for Mitch but I acted on them. But only at the conferences, when he came here, he tried to make it a known fact about us; I'm assuming that he had already filed for divorce since you knew about his wife."

"He never filed for divorce; my mom was threatening him with divorce so that he would stop the affair with you." Laura said as Sara led her back into the living room. "He didn't even know that she knew. I called his phone once and you answered it, that's how I knew it was you, I recognized your voice."

Catherine turned around to see how she affected the little girl by her mistakes, and selfishness. "I'm so sorry." Catherine said barely audible.

"That doesn't fix things, but I can attempt to be nicer to you and not hold it over your head every time I see you." Laura said as she sat on Sara's lap on the couch.

"Cath, I don't think it's a good idea to go out today, can we do it next weekend?"

"Yeah, sure." Catherine said as she started to move towards the door.

Grissom followed close behind, "Cath, she's just a kid, I never understood how they could hold a grudge but they know things, give it time, it'll go away."

"Yeah, eventually, I think the deaths of her parents didn't help the matter, I remember how long it took Lindsey to get over her father's death." Catherine said as a tear slide down her cheek. "I never realized how good Sara was with kids." Catherine chuckled.

"You're telling me, Laura chooses to be comforted by her than me, I don't get it, I listen."

"But you don't give advice…no…no, you are in _no_ position to give advice to a teenage girl!"

Grissom chuckled as Catherine walked out.

"Cath," Grissom called before she got into her car, "she's not even a teenager…yet." Grissom watched the realization hit Catherine, they he shut the front door and walked back into the living room chuckling.


	11. Chapter 11

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 11- Cases

_Two months later…_

"Hey Griss, where's Sara?" Nick spoke up before assignments.

"Yeah, she hasn't been working the past few days." Warrick added.

Grissom looked from Catherine's raised eyebrows to the guys. "She requested time off. She needed it. After you guys told her that her foster sister's case went cold."

"So wait, you are telling us that Sara, our Sara, actually went on a vacation?" Greg asked, stunned.

"Honestly Greg, what did you expect?" Grissom asked as he picked up the assignment slips, "Greg, since you were the one to cave and tell her, you get the decomp."

"Aw man c'mon, she begged me!"

"Go Greg!" Grissom demanded. "Catherine, Nick and Warrick you get the double homicide out in Henderson."

"Ok." Nick and Warrick said in unison, walking out of the break room.

"What are you going to do?" Catherine asked still sitting in the chair.

"The massive amounts of paperwork that is on my desk." Grissom sat in the chair across the table from Catherine.

"Where'd she go?"

"Back to live with her foster parents for a while; I think she is having trouble coping." Grissom took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Headache?"

"Migraine." He whispered.

"Go home, the paperwork can wait." Catherine suggested.

"No, Laura and Lindsey would kill me if I came home this early, Mrs. Baker is probably already asleep." They both chuckled, Catherine agreed.

When they were able to contain their laughter Catherine asked, "How is Laura dealing with Sara gone?"

When Grissom didn't answer immediately, she knew something us going on between them. "When I made her stay with me after you called me from that scene, they bonded. I don't know what they would talk about, but it's taking a toll on Laura. Sara would bring her out shopping and to the diner on Saturdays. Having Lindsey around is helping but she had a connection with Sara."

Catherine let out a chuckle unconsciously.

"What's so funny Catherine?"

"The fact that Sara has a connection to a teenager; Grissom, think about it. How much has she been around children?"

"Catherine, just because she hasn't raised one, doesn't mean that she doesn't know what Laura is going through!" Grissom raised his voice a little louder than normal.

"Then work to get her back. The paperwork can wait." Catherine got up from her chair and left the break room heading towards the SUV Nick and Warrick were waiting in.

Grissom headed off to his office to attack that massive amount of paperwork.

--

Greg was down in the morgue with David, doing a scan on the ski bag that the decomp was stored in.

"This seems oddly familiar." Greg said.

"Yeah, Nick and Sara worked on a decomp once that was in a bag."

"Really? Sara got a decomp? I wonder what she did to piss of the boss-man."

"Greg, stop." David ordered, not taking his eyes from the screen.

"David, what's that?" Greg asking, pointing to a part of the screen.

"I don't know, I guess we'll have to open it to see." Both eyes were glued to the screen when they saw something flicker on it.

"What was that?" David asked.

--

"Cath, is Sara going to be coming back?" Nick asked from the driver's seat.

"I honestly don't know, Grissom said she went to visit her foster parents."

"She'll be back man, I mean this is Sara, she can't stay away from work forever." Warrick reasoned.

"Yeah but Warrick, think of it this way, if you had a younger sibling who you really cared about, how would you react to seeing them lying on a bed with a gunshot wound to the head, and several stab wounds."

"Nick, how did we not know about her foster siblings? Or the fact that she was in the system?"

"I knew." Nick said as the turned onto the street that was bright with blue and red lights of the police cars. Brass was waiting for them at the crime scene tape.

--

Grissom was staring at the same file for over twenty minutes. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering. Getting frustrated, Grissom closed the folder and walked out of his office to go refill his cup of coffee, wishing that Greg had made some of his Blue Hawaiian before he left for the decomp.

Walking back to his office, he realized that his phone was ringing. "Grissom."

"I miss hearing your voice everyday."

"How are you?" When there was a long moment of silence, Grissom continued, "Sara?"

"I'm doing ok, not great but getting there. How did the guys take the news of my sudden vacation?"

"Greg had to repeat that you, 'our Sara, took a vacation.'" He could sense her smiling.

"Tell them that I will be back before they know it."

"When do you plan on coming back?"

"Gil, you said you wouldn't ask that." Sara said in a stern voice.

"_Sara, I'm thirsty." _

"Griss, can you hold on, Jessi is awake."

"Yeah, I'll be here." Grissom said as he reached for a file to review then sign off on. After signing off of a few files, she returned.

"Griss, would you hate me if I took guardianship over Jessi?"

"Sara, how could you even think that?"

He could understand her inner struggle; he had the same one when he went to Massachusetts to pick up Laura.

Sara sighed, "I don't know, but I wanted to check, I'm the closest thing that Jessi has to family now. I realized that I have met her, but not as Natasha's daughter. She's turning eight in a few months."

"She should get along with Laura. Do you know if they have met?"

"Yeah, Jessi said that her mom brought her to Massachusetts a few times, mostly in the summer. Laura and Jessi attended a day camp together, so we already know they get along."

"Great! Should I tell Laura, or do you want to wait until you come back?"

Sara sighed, "I realized that I have my yearly physical in a few weeks, I can't work without it and it took me forever to schedule this appointment, so I am going to be coming back in about twelve days, do you think the lab can survive without me for that long?" Sara chuckled slightly.

"The lab can," Grissom paused wondering if he should admit this next part to her. "But I can't." he whispered, hoping that she didn't catch it, but he knew that she would.

"Gil, it was hard for me to leave, but there were some loose ends up here that I had to tend to. I'll be home soon enough, and I'll start calling more, ok?" Sara compromised.

"Ok, take care of yourself."

"I am Gil. I'm getting some sleep, not a tremendous amount," Sara paused, "I miss you next to me."

"I miss you." Grissom whispered into the phone. Then there was a knock at the door, "hey I have to go, I'm sorry, I want to talk more, call me again?"

"Yes, of course, now go back to work Griss." Sara chuckled.

Snapping the phone shut, "Come in."

"Grissom, we have a problem." Catherine strode into his office holding a plastic evidence bag.

"With what?" Grissom leaned back in his chair.

"The double homicide that you gave us."

"and…what's exactly wrong?"

"Come look at the evidence." Catherine started walking to the door, noticing that Grissom hadn't moved from his seat at his desk.

"You already finished collection?"

"Yeah, there weren't any prints; everything was wiped clean. It was a husband and wife who were killed. I think the Hartson case was the beginning of a serial."

"Was there a child at this home?"

"No children." Catherine paused, "This is interesting though." Catherine handed it over to Grissom, "the names of the people in the picture are on the back. Natasha and Bethany are in the picture. Recognize who is standing between them?"

"Is that?" Grissom looked up at Catherine, scared to death.

"Read the name on the back."

Grissom flipped over the photo that was in the evidence bag, and read the name that was between Natasha and Bethany. "_Sara_." He breathed out.

**A/N: Ok, I am fully aware that I took a few hundred steps in a different direction. Let me know if you like this direction and want me to keep going, if you don't, then tell me and I will go in reverse. -LL**


	12. Chapter 12

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them

Chapter 12-Returns

Grissom hadn't said anything else to Catherine, he just left. When he arrived home Mrs. Baker was in the kitchen making some tea.

"Hello Gil, is everything okay?"

"Yes Vivian, everything's fine, I just left early, slow night."

"Oh okay, well I guess I will go, the girls were great!"

"That's good." Grissom offered a smile as he led her to the door.

She said her goodbyes and walked back to her house.

Moving back to the kitchen, Grissom sat down at the breakfast bar and started thinking about what this could mean.

After a few minutes he could hear the girls' footsteps on the stairs.

"Gil?"

"Hey." Grissom mumbled.

"What's wrong now?"

"There was another double-homicide. Husband and wife." Grissom stopped when Laura turned back to Lindsey, "can you give us a few minutes?"

Lindsey nodded and walked over to turn on the TV. Before she turned the volume up, she shifted on the couch to look back at Laura, "make him talk about it, my mom says that's what Sara got him to do."

"Okay, so you said another double homicide?" Laura pressed.

"Yeah." Grissom said as he rubbed his temples.

Laura jumped off her stool and went to the fridge. Turning around facing the breakfast bar, Laura placed a pill and a cold bottle of water on the counter in front of Grissom, "take it, and then talk." Laura demanded.

Grissom took the pill, then heaved a sigh. "Okay, so there was a double homicide today, and we think it is the beginning of a serial."

Laura waited a minute to see if he would continue willingly, but when he didn't she pressed on, "so it sounds like another day at work. so why are you a complete mess?"

"There was a picture found at the scene, it was of Sara and her foster siblings, your mom and Natasha Hartson were in it too." Grissom said quietly, his stomach turning at the thought of what could happen.

"Okay, there could be several reason why it's there. A friend of the family, a fellow foster sibling, was there any fingerprints on it?"

Grissom shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose when then phone rang.

"Grissom/Sidle Residence." Laura said.

"Now who taught you that?"

"Yeah, I know, is he there Laura?"

"Yeah, he came home from work a mess, I was trying to get him to talk."

"Good."

Laura held her hand over the mouth piece, walking over to Grissom she held out the phone, "it's Sara."

When Grissom didn't immediately take the phone from her, she forced it at him, "TALK!" The force in her voice had startled him, so he took the phone, clear his throat then greeted Sara.

"Hey."

"What's going on Griss? Catherine and Nick have been calling me asking if I know a Donna Karlog."

"Do you?" Grissom said sounding defeated.

"NO! Now tell me what the hell is going on!" Sara demanded through the phone.

"There was another double homicide, we think that it is related to the Hartson case, the beginning of a serial." Grissom paused to take a deep breath. "Catherine came into my office saying 'we have a problem.' She showed me a picture that was found at the scene. I'm guessing it was of your foster siblings because Beth and Natasha were both in it." Grissom sighed as he felt the weight lift off his shoulders, when he didn't hear her respond, he said her name.

"Yeah, I'm here, just thinking."

Grissom looked over his shoulder to see Laura and Lindsey sitting on the couch watching the Discovery channel.

"I don't know a Donna Karlog. Hell, I don't know a Donna period. Or anyone with the last name Karlog. Unless it's an alias."

"Brass is already working on that, getting records as far back as high school for both husband and wife."

"Gil, don't obsess over this, please. I'm alright. I'll be home in 2 days." Sara whispered.

"Wait, that's 10 days less than you said the last time we talked."

"Yeah, I know. We asked Jessi where she wanted to live, she chose to stay with the Jackson's."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"There isn't anything that you should be sorry about. Jessi just didn't want to live in Vegas because she'd be thinking about them all the time, the Jackson's are great people, I'm happy because she'll be safe and loved."

"Sara?"

"Yeah." Her heart fluttered when she heard him call her name.

"I can't wait to see you. I miss you." Grissom whispered.

"I miss you too Griss. Oh and it's probably not a good idea that Laura answers the phone 'Grissom/Sidle Residence' since they gang still does know."

Grissom hesitantly agrees and promises to talk to Laura.

By the time Grissom ended the call with Sara, Lindsey was asleep on the couch and Laura was sitting at the end reading a book.

"Gil, you're happy right?"

"Depends on how you mean."

"With Sara."

Grissom smiled and nodded his head.

"Then why aren't you married yet?"

The question hit Grissom off guard and before he could think of a coherent thought, Laura had walked upstairs to her room.

-- -- --

The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet. After Lindsey left, Laura refused to talk to Grissom until he answered her question.

Mrs. Baker was making breakfast while Laura got ready for school. Sara entered the house and was so happy to be home.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi Sara dear." Mrs. Baker said from the kitchen.

"Hi Vivian, how has everything been going?"

"Pretty good actually, Gil called an hour ago saying that he is going to be working a double but home in time to get Laura off the bus. Breakfast is ready if you'd like some."

"That would be nice." Sara smiled at the elderly woman.

"Laura's upstairs getting ready, if she doesn't hurry up, she's going to be late." Mrs. Baker reminded Sara.

Sara turned around and made her way upstairs. She gently tapped on Laura's door, "hey, kiddo, you're going to be late if you don't come downstairs now. And you are not leaving until you have breakfast."

Laura swung the door open, "You're back!" She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Sara's midriff.

"Come on, let's go have breakfast." Sara said ushering Laura down the stairs.

-- -- --

Laura went off to school and Sara was sitting at home alone going through the massive amounts of e-mails. One from Catherine stuck out:

_Hey Sara,_

_I hope that everything is going ok. How are you feeling? Well I hope you are back soon._

_-Cath_

Sara sat there thinking how to respond.

_Hey Cath,_

_I'm feeling better, still a little shocked. I'm actually already back but I'm taking the rest of the time to relax. Please don't tell the guys that I am back yet._

_Sara_

Sara sent the e-mail, and then went to browse for some new books. She didn't realize that Catherine was logged on until she received the reply e-mail.

_Hey, glad to hear that you are getting better-also that you're taking time for yourself, you deserve it. I'm glad that Grissom made you stay with him for a while, seeing that couldn't have been good. I was going to offer but Grissom already had you in the car._

_Get some rest Sara._

_Cath_

Sara had spent the majority of her day browsing online. Grissom had walked into a quiet house. He didn't know when to expect her home and Laura was off at school.

That same feeling settled within him and unnerved him. Loneliness. Placing his keys and sunglasses on the table near the door, he walked upstairs to crash on their bed.

Walking up the stairs after such a long seemed to take an eternity. He finally made it up to the platform, feeling really old in his joints, and completely out of breath. He crashed onto the bed, nothing the soft murmur coming from next to him.

"Sara?" he questioned placing a hand on her cheek.

Feeling the warm sensation on her cheek and hearing his husky voice call her name; she slowly opened her eyes, starting at the pale blue orbs of Gilbert Grissom.

Seeing her slowly smile, he took her in his arms and then they both fell into a much needed slumber.


	13. Chapter 13

Wins and Losses

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Don't own Mythbusters either.

Chapter 13 – A Day At Home

_**One)**_** THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! **_**Two)**_** I'm sorry that I didn't get this chapter to you all sooner. Things have been hectic around here lately, and I just haven't had a chance to write. I'm sorry. **_**Three)**_** I hope you like this chapter. Let me know! **

Laura returned home from school and was curious as to why the house was so quiet. Dropping her book bag in her room, she went off to find Grissom and Sara. Approaching their bedroom door, Laura quietly opened it, reveling the two, lying on top of the covers, asleep. She just smiled and shut the door to leave them in peace.

Grabbing her notebooks and flopping down on her bed, Laura started on her advanced math and science homework that was due in the next day.

After finishing all of her homework, Laura turned on the TV, and started to prepare salads for dinner. After washing the lettuce, and veggies that had already been cut from previous dinners, Laura placed that salads in the fridge.

Walking up the stairs, trying to be as quiet as she can be, she gently knocked on their bedroom door, "Come in" a muffled voice came through the door.

Opening the door cautiously, Laura poked her head in, "Hey," she ran in and jumped on the bed once she noticed that they were both awake. "There are salads in the fridge for dinner."

"Oh, really? They weren't there when I came here this morning." Sara said suspiciously.

"That's because I made them."

"Laura," Grissom drawled out, "You know that you aren't supposed to use knives."

"But I didn't. I had some extra time after I finished my homework, so I decided to make salads for dinner since it was the easiest thing to make without having to use the stove. And you're the one that had put those veggies back in the fridge when they were already cut up. I just used those." Laura smiled.

"Oh." was Grissom's only remark.

They stayed on the bed for a while chatting about how Laura was doing in school, and the subjects that she was studying. When the conversation died down, Sara went downstairs to the kitchen to gather the salads.

"Don't forget the dressing." Grissom said as he entered the kitchen.

"Hey, I was going to bring these upstairs so we could eat in bed." Sara smiled as she said this.

"Come on, let's eat in the living room," Grissom moved closer to her as he said this, "we both have the night off." Grissom breathed near her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Griss, Laura's here." She saw the realization come crashing down.

"Tomorrow she'll be at school." He shrugged with his reply, and walked off leaving Sara standing there shaking her head but with _that_ smile across her facial features.

They had enjoyed the peaceful meal, and light conversation that was passed back and forth between the trio during the commercials of MythBusters. After two episodes, Laura had fallen asleep at her spot on the couch.

"I'm going to bring her upstairs, and then go to bed myself, you'll be up soon?"

"Yes, I am going to check my e-mail then I'll be up."

Sara smiled and nodded, as she turned to gather Laura in her arms.

--

After Sara placed Laura in her bed, she waited to make sure Laura was still asleep and when she didn't stir, Sara exited the little girl's room, and went to get herself ready for the night.

Cleaning herself up in the bathroom, she made her way over to the bed, grabbing her entomology textbook on her way.

--

Meanwhile Grissom was downstairs in his office browsing through several different websites all containing the same thing. Saving the websites that had items that he like, so that he could ask Catherine her opinion.

After going through his mail like he told Sara he was, he realized that it was almost one o'clock in the morning. Shutting down his computer, he walked throughout the downstairs to turn off the lights, and make sure that everything is locked up securely before going upstairs to go to bed.

Gently pushing the door open, he realized that Sara was still awake. "Hey." He whispered, not wanting to startle her.

Sara glanced up from her text, "hey, that took a while." Sara as turning her face back from looking at the clock.

Grissom shrugged, "lots of mail to respond to." Grissom moved over to sit on the side of the bed, "I see that you haven't been sleeping."

"Hey, what can I say?" Sara smiled, "it's actually really interesting...except when you do your experiments."

"Glad you think so." Grissom paused, "so Laura has spring vacation when there is an entomology conference. Dan and Mike keep asking if I'm going to go this year. I don't normally go to this one. But if you and Laura think it's a good idea, we can all go." Grissom didn't look at her expression right after he said it. Staring down at his lap, he felt her cold hand on his chin.

Gently kissing him, when Sara confirmed the meaning of the kiss, "I think that would be a great idea!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, just find out when and where, maybe you could do an hour seminar while we are there." Sara smiled at Grissom when he shrugged. "Laura's really gotten into the whole science thing—which doesn't really surprise me, but I think it'll be fun."

--

Turning over after lying awake for about 15 minutes, Sara heard Grissom's light snoring and decided to let him sleep in. Slowly getting up from her warm spot of the bed, she felt a warm arm wrap around her midsection. "Don't go."

"Griss, someone has to make Laura breakfast." Sara smiled knowing that he wasn't going to get up.

"Go put some cereal out and leave three dollars on the counter for lunch." Grissom mumbled into his pillow. He looked up at her, "please", he paused, watching her slowly cave.

"OK, I'll be right back." She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, then slid out of bed and headed out the door into the kitchen.

--

Taking out the cereal and milk, Sara placed them out on the breakfast bar. Retreating back upstairs, Sara knocked on Laura's door, "Time for school, hun." Hearing a grunt in reply, Sara opened the door, and turned on the lights, and lifted the shades, hearing moans from under the covers. "Come on Laura, there is cereal on the counter, and I'm putting three dollars on your nightstand for lunch. OK?"

"MMMM…" was all she got in reply.

"I'm coming back in a few minutes to check to see if you are up." And with that Sara left the room.

--

Hearing the door open and Sara not coming straight for bed, he realized that she had gone into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, she had exited the room, without coming back to bed, which made Grissom's heart drop a little.

--

Sara walked back into Laura's room to see it empty. So she walked down to the kitchen and saw Laura sitting on one of the breakfast bar stools, eating cereal and reading a book.

"You almost ready?" Sara said turning on the coffee pot.

"Yup, just waiting for the bus," Laura looked at Sara over her book, "should be here in a minute or two."

"Okay, the alarm is off so just make sure you shut the door, I'm going back to bed, yell to us, so that we know that you are leaving. Ok?"

Receiving a nod, Sara walked back upstairs, quietly opened the door, and tiptoed over to Grissom's side of the bed. Putting her freezing cold hands under the covers onto his warm back, he startled awake, reaching for her to get her to stop. "That's not nice!" He said as she pulled her hands from his back.

Sara moved over to her side of the bed, and sliding under the covers.

"_I'm leaving!" _Laura shouted up the stairs.

"OK, see you when you get home." Grissom responded, then turning back to Sara. "Alone at last."


End file.
